FWST: Will the Big 12 pick anyone for expansion?

The Big 12 expansion movement will take its next public step Monday when league presidents offer an update at the end of their scheduled meeting at a Dallas-Fort Worth hotel.

Whether that step will be forward, backward or sideways is open to speculation. Most signs point toward embracing the 10-member status quo as the probable outcome despite millions spent on consultants’ fees and significant hours spent vetting candidates by commissioner Bob Bowlsby since the July 19 acknowledgment that the Big 12 had shifted into expansion mode.

But check back at the end of Monday’s meeting because the momentum could change as options surface behind closed doors, including the possibility of adding two schools as football-only members. The sticking point, multiple administrators have confirmed, is finding an expansion-related proposal that could draw the necessary “yes” votes from eight of the league’s 10 existing members to earn approval.

Multiple Big 12 administrators contacted in the past week offered similar versions of the same mantra in regard to Monday’s anticipated outcome: “Your guess is as good as mine.”